AdmundfortGeographer
Getting lost in fantasy maps
In the US, it will premier October 8th on Sci-Fi. Then DVD release in November.
Altamont Ravenard said:The actions scenes are okay (of Xena level, say).
Felon said:...but there are those who have said you can't make D&D into a movie...
Upper_Krust said:Hi all!
Okay, I watched the movie today.![]()
Personally I think gamers will get a kick out of it, but I am not so sure the general movie going audience would, so it was probably a wise decision going straight to television/dvd.
I thought the special effects were at least as good as the first movie, if not better, and when you consider it had only 1/5th the budget thats pretty good going.
The acting was for the most part inoffensive, the actors were decent enough, with the Rogue and the Barbarian stealing the show.
Okay spoilers to follow:
The Good
1. Lux: The Barbarian was gorgeous, no doubt about it, and amazingly there was nothing gratuitous about her either. I would have prefered to see her absolutely lose control in the fight with the bandits. Probably needed a magic item of some kind, I'm thinking Horn of Valhalla maybe, or a Horn of Blasting. Also, maybe its just me, but I would have prefered seeing her with a greataxe (perhaps one which split into two hand axes upon command?).
2. Nim: The Rogue, probably the best character, most of the better scenes and dialogue featured him. Had the Gem of Seeing which was really cool, especially when we got the cameras eye view. Although one thing struck me as odd...a Rogue only having one dagger - most unlikely. Some squabbling over treasure would have been nice, but the most annoying thing was we never got to see him hide in shadows, move silently or sneak attack anyone.
3. The little vignettes for each of the main characters when Berek was discussing who he wanted for his party, were quite cool. I would have liked to have seen an even bigger tavern brawl with the Barbarian; the Rogue going back and robbing the other two thieves who cheated him; and a bit more thought put into the scenes with the mage and the cleric.
4. The Lich with no name: The Lich was easily the best villain in the movie, the one big mistake of that first scene was setting it during the day. Set at night, the lich would have looked more menacing and the created spectres would have looked awesome. I have to concur with one of the previous posters, his treachery was amusing.
5. Dungeons: This time around, unlike the first movie, the dungeon scenes were pretty good. Illusions, puzzles, monsters (although someone should have got tagged by one of them), locked doors, traps. I would have prefered a BBEG in the dungeon, but you can't have everything I suppose...oh, and where was the light coming from?
The Bad
1. Faluzure: Faluzure should have had his energy drain breath weapon. It would have been cool to see the people of Izmir being killed and raised as the undead, their numbers growing with each attack, while the ever fewer defenders torn between attacking the dragon god and the undead.
2. Damodar: I thought Damodar was an incredibly weak villain, bordering on the pathetic. I mean he didn't do anything really in the whole movie. He virtually stood still while being attacked, twice! What happened to his fighting ability from the first movie? Damodar should have been brought back as a Death Knight, not some ambiguous undead. If they still wanted to show the actors face he could have worn some mask of illusion, although why the heck they he wanted to disguise his appearance was a mystery.
3. The Orb: Also what the heck did the Orb actually do, apart from awaken the dragon? It would have been nice to see it actually have some secondary powers.
4. The Bandits: No character at all, probably would have worked better as a band of orcs. Also had none of the bandits ever heard of missile weapons (!?) at least then we could have seen the Mage using Protection from Arrows and the Barbarian going into a full mouth-frothing rage when she got injured! The Bandits definately needed something to make that encounter memorable.
5. Spatial Awareness: The main battle scenes could have done with some better co-ordination and choreography.
6. Missile Weapons: The heroes really needed some missile weapons, or at least one character specialising in thrown weapons such as the Rogue. Okay, we get to see him throw a dagger, twice, but he should have had a brace of daggers to throw.
The Ugly
1. The Mistake: Okay, its been mentioned before, but how could they have missed the continuity error about there being no divine magic in the city, when the wizard bought the divine scroll from the temple of Obad-Hai!
Mine.BrooklynKnight said:In what game DONT you hear lines like that?